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The History Channel's new mini-series, "The Bible", has so far racked up stellar ratings and enthusiastic tweets from celebrities. But there is another story to be told behind this version of the greatest story ever told. According to data from BrandIndex, the History Channel has also seen its brand perception rise among both Christians and political conservatives.

A scene from "The Bible"

On February 26, Buzz scores for The History Channel among those who identified themselves as politically conservative stood at 34, while Buzz scores among those who identified themselves as "Catholic", "Protestant" or "Other Christian" were 31. On the night of the premier of the show, March 3, these Buzz scores had risen to 41 and 36 respectively. By March 9, The History Channel's Buzz score among conservatives was 47 and among Christians was 43, marking around a twelve point gain for both segments.

This increase should come as no surprise given The History Channel's efforts to get out the word on "The Bible". The channel and the shows' producers made extensive efforts to get Christian leaders to promote the show. According to the Baltimore Sun, the show tapped Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church in Southern California, to serve as an adviser for the show. He in turn made sure to tweet to his 908,000 followers before its premier: " Watch the World Premier of #TheBible, tonight on History Channel 8/7pm. An epic 10 part series! Tell everyone. Please RT”. As Business Week also explains, the producers "built anticipation for the miniseries by previewing it for religious leaders at several megachurches. Along the way, the creators picked up endorsements from key religious tastemakers, including Joel Osteen."

While this courting of the Christian community has resulted in high ratings for "The Bible", there is a flip-side. Since the debut of the show, there has been a down-tick in Buzz for the History Channel among non-Christians (specifically, those who identified themselves as "Jewish", "Muslim" or "Other religion"). Whether or not this drop actually has to do with the show itself (or those who have endorsed it or the producers' talk of on-set miracles) is unclear. The Buzz scores for the non-Christian segment remain firmly positive, however, and the drop-off might be just a return to normal as Buzz scores for the channel were elevated among the segment for the month of February, perhaps because of the promotional build up for the History Channel's slate of new programming, including another well-rated scripted series, “The Vikings”.

This article uses YouGov BrandIndex's Buzz score, which is measured by asking consumers nationally, “Have you heard anything positive or negative about this brand, either through the news, advertising or by word of mouth?”